These football signs placed in the yard of a Liberal resident are part of a fundraiser from the Liberal High School After-Prom committee. L&T photo/Robert Pierce

By ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

On Monday morning, residents at eight Liberal homes awoke to find some new decorations in their yard.

The decor was all part of a fundraiser from Liberal High School’s After-Prom committee, which group members hope will continue throughout the school year.

With some simple paperwork and a little money, those living in Liberal can currently have football and soccer signs put in someone else’s yard.

After-Prom member Lia Roberts said paperwork is left at the home of the “victim” to decide for themselves what to do next.

“They have the option to just say, ‘We don’t want to participate. Please come pick these up,’” she said. “They could make the donation and send them on to someone else’s yard.”

To have football or soccer signs, or both, placed in someone’s yard, a donation of at least $50 is required, and rush orders to “skin” another yard, an additional fee of $25 is added.

Roberts said the fundraiser will take place through the end of football and soccer season, and if all goes well, she hopes other sports can be added.

“We’d like to do it during basketball season,” she said. “It seems like it’s going to be a good fundraiser.”

Roberts said, though, for now, soccer and football are the chosen sports.

“To get started, we just had to pick a couple of sports we thought would have a lot of participation,” she said. “We couldn’t afford to do all the sports right at this time.”

For those who have already been “skinned” and wish not to participate further, “anti-skinning” insurance can be purchased, according to Roberts.

“If you’ve got it at your house and you want to send it on to my house, if you don’t want it back any time during the season, you can make a $100 donation and say I’m done, and I don’t want it back,” she said.

Roberts said the committee is switching yards three times this week, and as the fundraiser goes further, the number of yards “skinned” will go down.

“Probably after this week, it’ll just be two, but we’re trying to hit it pretty hard during homecoming,” she said. “Another thing we want to do is just try to build school spirit. We’re hitting a lot of the coaches. Primarily this week will probably be the senior football players and the same with the soccer. We’re trying to get a lot of the soccer players and coaches involved in that too.”

To participate in the “skinning a friend” fundraiser, call Roberts at 624-3336 or 655-2865 or Tracy Hammond at 626-0637 or 655-6353.

“Just get hold of one of us, and we’ll be glad to get them the information,” Roberts said. “They don’t have to wait for the signs to show up in their yard. We’ll be glad to work with them.”

Roberts emphasized that After-Prom will try to get other sports involved in the fundraiser.

“We’re not trying to intentionally leave anyone out,” she said. “We started with two of them.”

Roberts said the After-Prom committee began meeting when the school year started, and its main purpose is to raise fund for after-prom events at the Seward County Activity Center.

“It’s right after prom is over,” she said. “We rent out the Activity Center. There’s a theme for the night. There’s different booths that the kids can go to. Each booth will have a different activity. There’s refreshments. It’s basically all-night long.”

Through the “skinning a friend” fundraiser and other money makers, Roberts said After-Prom tries to raise around $18,000 to $20,000 in a given year.

“We give away a lot of prizes and nice prizes, like iPads, DVD players, lots of electronics, gift cards,” she said of the after-prom events. “They would like each kid to walk away with something.”

The After-Prom committee is also selling T-shirts, and Roberts said orders for those will be taken through Monday. To order a T-shirt, call Roberts, or go by LHS to pick up an order form.

Roberts said all of the money raised through the committee’s fundraisers goes directly to after prom events.

“It’s all used primarily for the event that night,” she said. “It takes a lot of money.”

Roberts added After-Prom is also looking for more parents to be involved with the committee.

“We would really appreciate any extra help,” she said.

Those wanting to become involved with After Prom can call Roberts or Hammond.

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The High Plains Daily Leader and Southwest Daily Times are published Sunday through Friday and reaches homes throughout the Liberal, Kansas retail trade zone. The Leader & Times is the official newspaper of Seward County, USD No. 480, USD No. 483 and the cities of Liberal and Kismet. The Leader & Times is a member of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Associated Press.

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